Washington Watch

In mid-summer, President Clinton emerged victorious from the Congressional fight over his budget agreement. The White House made significant compromises to secure passage of the bill, but the final outcome did contain the essential principles to which the President was committed: reductions in the projected federal budget deficit by nearly...

The news of a breakthrough agreement between Israel and the PLO hit Washington like an earthquake last week. Everyone was shaken: the Administration, the Congress, the news media and, in a most profound way, the Arab American and American Jewish communities. Initial reactions among Arab American and American Jews have...

(This is the final part of a four-part series on the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, examining the sources of its power and the roots of its current internal political problems.) AIPAC’s recent problems (the forced resignations of three of its top officers and a series of embarrassing press exposes) are themselves...

(This is part three of a four-part series on the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, examining the sources of its power and the roots of its current internal and political problems.) In the past two years, AIPAC has been buffeted by a number of exposes and negative press reports. All these came...

(This is part two of a four-part series on the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, examining the sources of its power and the roots of its current internal and political problems.) Last week I detailed two of the four keys to AIPAC’s political success, its ability to create a network of influential...

(Beginning this week, I will be writing a four-part series on the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, examining the sources of its power and the roots of its current internal and political problems.) The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israel lobby, has been hit by a series of crises...

As Israeli bombs rained down on Lebanon and the tragedy of the Lebanese people was repeated, those of us in Washington who have spent our lives working on Arab issues took a long, hard look at ourselves. The questions we faced were difficult: after years of organizing, struggling, and fighting...

Jesse Jackson is a potent force in U.S. politics. Despite efforts by some conservative Democrats to reduce Jackson’s influence by courting and promoting other African American leaders, few doubt that Jackson remains the most popular African American leader and the leading voice on the left wing of Democratic politics. These...

A specter is haunting both the Democratic and Republican parties—the specter of H. Ross Perot. As the leadership of both parties met in recent weeks, the question about what to do with Ross Perot dominated their discussions. A poll commissioned by the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and conducted by President...

A dangerous crusade against Islam is being waged by some in the U.S. press and it has created a serious problem for Arab Americans. This new crusade is a virtual campaign, reminiscent of one waged by pro-Israel forces and right-wing commentators in the late 1970s when they successfully established a...